A strong foundation for the profession; mentoring early ... · Professor Rachel Lofthouse...
Transcript of A strong foundation for the profession; mentoring early ... · Professor Rachel Lofthouse...
A strong foundation for the profession; mentoring early
career teachers
Professor Rachel Lofthouse
CollectivED
Leeds Beckett University, UK
@DrRLofthouse @CollectivED1
Webinar learning focus
• In this webinar we will consider the significance of mentoring teachers at the beginning of their careers.
• The focus will be how mentors can build trust while still offering the challenge that new teachers need to support their professional learning in the busy school workplace.
• Practical approaches will be offered which are rooted in evidence of impact.
Why do we mentor early career teachers? Easy answer: because we were all there once
Better answer: because we cannot predict their futures
Starting with good mentoring for pre-service teachers
Dear Ellie
As your mentor I was also feeling vulnerable; especially when you wobbled with some of your classes and seemed to rely on me to solve problems. I realise now that mentoring is a delicate process which requires great care and comes with a lot of responsibility. It was a privilege to support you at the beginning of your career and help you begin to feel more confident and grow as a reflective, proud teacher. And remember that in teaching we all wobble some days.
Good luckMelissa
Question for reflection
Melissa was mentoring for the first time and worried that Ellie depended on her too much as her mentor.
List 3 specific challenges that you think Ellie might have been experiencing as a new teacher.
Workplace learning:What is the role of mentoring in early
career development?
3 goals of workplace learning
Ensure teaching is desired goal
Identify prospective specific career interests
Gain occupational capacities –learn the skills needed to do
the job at entry
Develop occupational competencies for future
professional learning – have the skills needed to keep
developing (after Stephen Billett)
Practice pedagogies
Appropriate coaching and mentoring
techniques which support professional
learning
Personal epistemologies
Beliefs and values that the participants bring to learning in the workplace and to their roles
Practice curriculum
Coherent learning opportunities to
enable progression to meet the demands of
the profession
(after Stephen Billett)
Key dimensions of mentoring affecting
professional learning
Dear Mark
When you joined our school you were doing a great job as a new teacher but you seemed to think you didn’t need a mentor and you kept your distance. Halfway through the year things seemed to unravel and you blamed school and the kids. It wasn’t until the end of the year that we learned of the issues in your personal life. I wish you had talked to me more openly. I believe that I could have been some-one to trust. I’m sad to hear that you have left teaching now.
Best wishesCarly
Question for reflection
Carly feels she let Mark down.
If you were advising Carly what advice might you give her before she mentors another new teacher?
Image sourced at: https://mindfulminutes.com/heart-mind-aligning-heart-mind-meditation/
Mentoring is a relationship
It can be caring
It can be toxic
It cannot be a sticking plaster
It can be part of a learning culture with wellbeing at its heart
Dear Gemma
I know I was your mentor, but actually I think you learned so much from so many colleagues and didn’t need to rely on me. You took up my suggestions of members of staff who provided you with the help you needed. I know my own weaknesses and recognise the strengths of those around me. I watched you build up your networks and relationships and your confidence grew. Sometimes it felt like I was learning vicariously through you rather than you from me.
Well doneCraig
Question for reflection
Mark wonders if he did enough as Gemma’s mentor but Gemma had a very successful first year in teaching and is thriving in her second year.
What seems to have supported this success?
Be
amb
itio
ns
for
men
tori
ng
Create trust at vulnerable career stage
Scaffold, frame & assess professional learning
Promote dialogue & divergence
Enable transformation through boundary crossing
Authenticity
Solidarity
Creativity
Attributes enabling a legacy of professional learning through mentoring
Existing at both individual and institutional levels
Expand
Critique
Articulate
Legacy outcomes of professional learning through mentoring
Existing at both individual and institutional levels
Think differently about lesson observation
Authenticity
Solidarity
Creativity
Expand
Critique
Articulate
Think differently about mentoring roles
Authenticity
Solidarity
Creativity
Expand
Critique
Articulate
Think differently about where we mentor
Authenticity
Solidarity
Creativity
Expand
Critique
Articulate
SEARCH
• CollectivED Leeds
• Find working papers link• https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/carnegie-school-of-
education/research/working-paper-series/collectived/
• Over 120 papers, from 14 countries
• Authors include students, teachers, school leaders, coaches, mentors, consultants, research students, teacher educators, academics
• There is a special issue on Advanced Mentoring which has papers related to this webinar and also see issue 2 for observation paper and walking mentoring
Working Papers
Don’t be this mentor